Bears, Briggs agree to one-year extension

Just last September, whether he remembers it this way or not, Bears’ LB Lance Briggs formally requested a trade after he and his agent Drew Rosenhaus approached Jerry Angelo early into the season and requested a contract extension (just three years deep on a six-year deal, mind you).

The trade request came after Jerry refused to negotiate during the regular season.

Lance said on a conference call today that “at times” it was difficult to deal with Jerry Angelo but that even Angelo agreed his contract was something that needed to be addressed once the offseason began. Whether Jerry said this simply to appease Lance or not, it appears new GM Phil Emery agreed.

The Bears announced a one-year extension for Lance today. The deal keeps Briggs under contract through the 2014 season and is reportedly worth $17.5 million, with $5 million fully guaranteed . . .

The deal does not pay Briggs a ton of newmoney but rather more money up front and more of it is guaranteed."I’m just very appreciative right now that the work is being recognized and that it got handled as fast as it did," Briggs told Chicago media. "I know that I will retire a Bear."

LAKE FOREST, IL — The Chicago Bears agreed to a one-year contract extension with LBLance Briggs. Briggs’ will be under contract through the 2014 season.

Selected to his seventh-straight Pro Bowl in 2011 after leading the team in tackles for the third time in four seasons, Briggs has garnered 1,286 career tackles, 74 tackles for losses, 10.5 sacks, 13 interceptions, 51 pass break ups, 14 forced fumbles, and eight fumble recoveries while starting 137-of-140 career games played for Chicago. He is just the fourth LB in franchise history to be selected to seven-straight Pro Bowls, joining Hall of Famers Dick Butkus, Bill George and Mike Singletary.

“We’re very excited for Lance and for the Bears,” said general managerPhil Emery. “Lance has been a very valuable and productive member of our team; seven straight Pro Bowls is quite a record of success. This is a very positive step for our team in our efforts to win championships.”

Collecting 100-plus tackles for eight straight seasons, Briggs has lead the team in tackles in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011 after finishing second in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. According to STATS, Inc., Briggs leads the NFL in stuffs - a tackle of a rusher for negative yards - over the past nine seasons with 65.5. Since entering the league in 2003 as a third-round draft pick (68th overall) of the Bears, Briggs also leads NFL linebackers with three interception return touchdowns, which is tied for fourth most in franchise history.

In 2011, he paced the Bears in tackles (147) and finished third in TFLs (eight), while starting all 16 contests. Briggs also registered two forced fumbles, one interception and three pass break ups.

Comments

I am happy for both Briggs and Bears fans to enjoy his play for the next few years. He doesn't collect the big pass rushing statistics, but he is a tackling machine and the Bears are much better with him, than without him.

Going for honesty here: I kind of wish the Bears would have told him to shut up and play. His situation is SOOO much different than Forte's (and I don't much care if they get a deal done on that front either). Lance got the big payday already, and he had two seasons left on it. Aside from that, Briggs had ZERO leverage. The linebacker market is weak, and he's aging. I like it when teams reward their stars, but they already rewarded Lance. Having said all that, it's really not my place to care one way or the other. I love Briggs the player, and I'm glad he's happy.

Although, I do kind of get what Emery was doing. Strategically, it helps him keep a key leader in the locker room happy. The Forte thing is different and he can’t justify overpaying just for locker room support—that’s more important for a coach to have anyways (and Lovie has it). But I’m not as turned off by the deal as I was initially.

I do not like when pro athletes bring their grievances on pay to the court of public opinion and Briggs did that...since then he has shut his mouth and played and played well.

Teams must be very careful to whom they award big contracts and imo the Bears have done a real good job of that...just at teams and their positions below the cap and you will see that being good or bad does not correlate directly in many cases with how you stack up against cap space.

In my opinion, Lance is a great line backer and has several good years in front of him...maybe part of Emery's strategy or at least a side benefit here is to put some pressure on Forte to meet in the middle.